A motor-vehicle door has a front end pivoted about an upright axis, a rear end with a rearwardly directed end face, and an inside face immediately adjacent the rear end face. The door is pivotal about the axis relative to a frame member having a forwardly directed front face confronting the rear end face of the door in a fully closed position of the door. A holding element fixed to the front face of the frame member has a part projecting inward past the inside face of the door in the fully closed position of the door and having a support face facing forward toward the rear end face of the door. A retaining member, for example a bolt or wedge, is fixed in the holding element and a retaining element on the rear end face of the door is engageable with the retaining member to latch the door in the fully closed position.
As described in German patent document 3,240,532 the support surface of a housing-like holder extends laterally further into the interior of the vehicle seen from above as the inner surface of the door or the covering thereof. This structure is intended, when the door is pushed back in an accident, to prevent the inner face of the door from hooking on the holder. When, however, the force of the accident is extreme so that the door is driven back considerably, the inner face of the door can be driven in and hook on the holder.